


Go Places

by ILookDaftWithOneShoe



Series: Challengers [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Avatar - The Last Airbender AU, Exploration, Firebender!Loki, M/M, Worldbuilding, blacksmith!Tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-04
Updated: 2014-04-10
Packaged: 2018-01-14 13:10:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1267666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ILookDaftWithOneShoe/pseuds/ILookDaftWithOneShoe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Escaping from Ba Sing Se was the easy part. Now Tony and Loki have a long, long way to go to find Loki a firebending instructor, and it isn't promising to be easy.</p><p>Avatar: Legend Of Aang AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One day too long

**Author's Note:**

> It's back! I love writing this AU.  
> By the way - Gaipan is Jet's hometown that features in his eponymous episode.  
> Also, for some reason the beginning of the chapter made me think of Loki singing 'Let It Go' from Frozen.
> 
> And that's really it! Enjoy.
> 
> Named after Go Places by The New Pornographers.

Tony smiled innocently at the sceptical woman inspecting his cart.

"You're taking this to a customer?" the inspector said, knocking on the sides of the cart. She went to remove the lid, but Tony grabbed her wrist.

"Don't open it. The finish hasn't quite settled on the silver and light will tarnish it," Tony growled.

The inspector raised an eyebrow at that; Tony just hoped that she didn't know anything about smithing, or he was in trouble.  
"Your passport and credentials are in order," she shrugged, then waved him on. "Next!"

Keeping a straight face, Tony tucked his identification back into a pocket and pulled the cart forward and out of the cavern. It was _heavy._ At least it had been a nice ferry ride instead of the suicide mission across the Serpent's Pass.

He didn't stop pulling until he'd taken the cart out of the ferry docking cavern, a little way into the wilderness and into a nook where he wasn't easily visible. Then he undid the latches holding the lid down and took it off.

The first thing that happened was that Jarvis scrambled out and fell on the ground, before getting to his paws and greeting Tony enthusiastically.

The second thing was that Loki's head poked out, his hair mussed.

"Jarvis was sitting on my head almost the entire journey," he growled, unfolding his long limbs and climbing out of the cart.

"Don't make fun of Jay," Tony said, rubbing behind the turtle-fox's ear. "He's my familiar; making fun of him is making fun of me."

"And I'd hate to do that," Loki said dryly as he retrieved his backpack.

His mood lightened considerably as he considered the weight of what they'd just done.

"This is your first time outside the Outer Wall, isn't it?" Tony asked. He knew full well that it was - it was Earth Kingdom custom for the royal family to not leave Ba Sing Se - but he just wanted to remind him.

"I wasn't exactly supposed to leave the Upper Ring, though our family often vacationed at Lake Laogai." Loki's lips spread into a wide grin, and he took a deep breath and surveyed the surrounding countryside. "I've left Ba Sing Se," he said brightly.

"You know it," Tony agreed, wanting to watch Loki react.

Loki took another deep breath, and with a sharp thrust upwards of one hand, sent a jet of flame into the sky. "I've never not had walls around me," he said. "I'm _free."_

"Watch the sparks. Travellers could spot it," Tony said.

"I don't care," Loki beamed, sparks trailing from his hands. "I'm never going back."

Relaxing, Tony leaned back against the dirt wall behind him and just smiled at Loki's joy.

Once Loki had exhausted the need to throw fire around, he was suddenly in Tony's personal space, pushing him against the wall and kissing him deeply.

Slightly surprised, Tony let out an odd noise into Loki's mouth and pulled him closer.

Loki was inexperienced, yes, but Tony would give him points for effort because _that tongue._

Tony could freely admit that he really liked Loki. Also, that the man had the delightfully free spirit that was so rare in the Earth Kingdom. Fire in his blood.

"Where are we going?" Loki finally asked after pulling back.

Amidst their planning and packing, they hadn't actually gotten that far.

"I thought about that on the ferry ride, and since you've never left the city, I thought I'd make the plans." Tony crouched and dug around in his pack to find a map, one of the many things he'd taken with them from home. "We're here," he said, unravelling the map and pointing a finger at the ferry dock at the southern end of the East Lake. "You want to find a firebending instructor, so I guess we're headed west, to the Fire Nation colonies on the coast." He moved his finger across the map to the western end of the Earth Kingdom.

Loki's finger followed Tony's curiously. "So how long will that take? A few days, yes?"

Tony looked at him disbelievingly. "You really have never left Ba Sing Se."

"It's a lot longer?" Loki ventured.

Tony just nodded. "How about this. We follow the edge of the West Lake and cross the river to get us to Gaipan, then try and hitch a ride down the river on some kind of boat to the Mo Ce Sea. That's where the colonies are, so there'll definitely be an instructor there."

"You don't fear the journey to the Fire Nation?" Loki said. The underlying question was _you'd do that for me?_

"You kidding me?" Tony grinned impishly, wrapping an arm around Loki's back. "Fire Lord's son, right here. I should be fine."

"I don't know if that's true."

"Close enough. You're a firebender with black hair and cheekbones like knives, it'll do," Tony said. "Where's your sense of adventure?"

Loki's finger traced the line of where they planned to go. "I think I just found it."

-O.O-

Before leaving, Loki had changed out of his royal yellow tunic and into something drab and brown. Physically, he already looked suspiciously highborn, and he didn't need to call more attention to himself.

"Hold up," Tony said, leaning forward to tear the royal sigil off Loki's belt buckle and throwing it away, then mussing Loki's hair. "You look just like the rest of us, now."

"Careful, now, Tony; you start stripping me and I don't know if I'll contain myself," Loki joked wryly.

Tony was quickly learning that since the title of 'demure prince' had been stripped from Loki, he'd cast off the associated demurity.

The pair of them quickly went through the cart and took everything they wanted. Having left the palace in a hurry, all Loki had were spare shoes and ill-fitting clothes that Tony had bought quickly as they left, and as such, he was carrying food, money, waterskins and sleeping equipment.

Tony had his own belongings, as well as select pieces of smithing equipment that he'd either gone to great lengths to procure or he'd created himself. What could he say? He had a trade, and tools of said trade were very useful.

He also retrieved his sword, a Dao blade he'd made himself a few years ago.

Once they'd grabbed everything, Tony took the cart down to the lake edge and pushed it in. It sank beneath the mud and water rather quickly.

Then they headed off down one of the worn roads leading around the edge of the West Lake.

-O.O-

The three of them - Tony, Loki and Jarvis - didn't encounter many people on the road. The few that they did encounter weren't really interested in conversation, except an old woman who tried to keep them around by talking on and on, and small child with his father on a cart who freaked out when Jarvis sniffed his cabbages.

Aside from that, it was quiet. They chatted idly as they talked, mostly about Tony's earlier life, because Loki's history in the palace was actually rather boring.

Tony's mother had died young, leaving him with his father, who'd actually been quite a busy guy. He'd had never officially been a part of the army; he'd been his father's assistant, and so when Howard went to war, Tony went with him and was given Earth Kingdom armour. The burn on his chest had very nearly killed him, and had left him with permanent scarring to the bone of his chest that hurt constantly.

Despite that, Tony held no prejudice whatsoever against people of the Fire Nation, which was nice.

Their goal was to walk as far as possible before nightfall, and sleep under the stars. Loki had initially seemed enthusiastic, but as time wore on, he started to get suspicious.

"If we sleep outdoors, couldn't we be hurt by wild animals?" he asked Tony worriedly.

"I doubt it," Tony replied. "You've got fire, I've got my sword, and dangerous wild animals usually aren't quiet."

"What about insects?" Loki continued.

"I'm not afraid of a few bugs."

"Won't the ground be hard?"

"Seriously, princess. I know you've never slept outside before, but trust me."

They walked in silence for a few more minutes.

"We've been walking for a long time," Loki said. In reality, it had been about three or four hours.

"Why, you hungry?" Tony said.

"No, it's just-"

"You've never walked this far before," Tony finished.

"Yes," Loki said. "Ba Sing Se has a monorail for a reason."

"You'll survive. Jarvis is still walking, and he's got that bloody shell to carry around," Tony reminded him.

Loki just gritted his teeth and kept walking.

-O.O-

It struck Tony after a little more walking that the reason that Loki was asking so many questions and complaining so much was because he was scared.

This prompted him to stop telling horror stories and start talking about the fun times he'd had exploring the wider world. Loki perked up considerably after that, and once Tony ran out of stories, Loki started talking about books he'd read and stories he'd been told.

Tony found it a little sad that Loki lacked stories of his own to talk about.

By the time night fell, Loki seemed to be feeling a bit braver. They strayed off the path a little to choose a more sheltered campsite, and Tony collected firewood while Loki set up their sleeping arrangements.

When Loki was done, he came over to find Tony flicking two spark rocks together and cursing.

"Can't get the bloody things lit-" Tony muttered.

"Tony?" Loki said.

"What?"

"You're an idiot," Loki said, shooting a jet of flame from the tips of his outstretched fingers at the kindling. It started to burn immediately.

"Oh yeah," Tony said. "Good to have you around, then."

"Nice to know I'm good for something," Loki said.

Once they'd eaten, it was dark and they were both rather tired. When they bedded down, Tony kept his sword where he could reach it, and Loki did the same with his throwing knives.

"Goodnight, Lokes," Tony mumbled as he burrowed his face deeper into his sleeping bag. "Everything's gonna be okay. Trust me."

"I do," Loki replied quietly.

-O.O-

The next day was spent walking, with little happening apart from winding conversations, occasional encounters with animals, sudden stops to admire the wide world (Loki) and picking Jarvis out of bogs and holes (Tony).

When Jarvis was trapped on his back, he actually couldn't roll back over.

That night, they were fortunate to come to a town where they could sleep in real beds (Loki's concern) and have a drink (Tony's concern).

Despite Tony's suggestions to the contrary, Loki did sleep in a separate bed from him, which just served as a reminder of how young and sheltered Loki actually was.

The kiss hadn't repeated itself, but Tony was fairly certain it would once Loki felt sure of himself again.

They rose early in the morning, paid with some of Tony's coin - Loki hadn't managed to bring so much as a bronze disk with him, and they'd agreed to leave some of Tony's money behind for Dummy - and set off with new provisions and some better-fitting boots for the young prince.

That day was largely walking too. They just kept on the track with the lake on their right within seeing distance and kept marching. The only break they took was in a hot pool that Jarvis uncovered, an excellent opportunity for Loki to rest his sore muscles. Tony wasn't so bad; smithing was a physical job and so carrying such a heavy load wasn't such a problem.

Loki didn't even make it to dinner before he fell asleep on his bed roll. Tony had to shake him awake to eat his bread and soup.

"Tell you what, Lokes," Tony said as Loki chewed his bread sleepily. "Next time we come to a town, we'll stick around for a day or two so you can take and break and look around. It's not like we have to get to Gaipan straight away."

Loki seemed grateful at the offer.

Tony wasn't sure how far they'd walked, but he knew for sure that they were at least following the right path, because there was only one big road on the map and they were on a big road, or at least, slightly to the side of it.

Neither he nor Loki knew how much effort the Earth King was going to expend on catching Loki. He could have flyers in every town with Loki's face emblazoned on them, or he could be just letting Loki go free so long as he didn't return. There was no harm in playing it safe, and plenty of harm in not doing so, so they picked the former.

It took them two more days to reach another town, and they stayed there a short while, Loki marvelling at country life.

Tony was surprised by how it tended to be the little things that surprised Loki. After all, the Outer Wall of Ba Sing Se encaptured what was basically a small country of its own, so rural life didn't surprise Loki in many ways, but for some reason watching a moo-sow being milked intrigued him hugely. And working hard for his food was a new one, so he tried his hand at helping the little kids pick apples in an orchard. The kids thought his height was an excellent tool to reach more apples. Tony thought it was rather adorable.

Later, when they were eating stew across the table from each other, Tony just chuckled and smiled around his spoon.

Loki raised an eyebrow.

"Ah, come on. You're adorable," Tony said. "You act like you're this agent of evil, when really you're as pure and innocent as Jarvis."

"I'm not pure and innocent," Loki rebuffed. "I'm a prince. A prince of evil."

"The only thing you're a prince of is cute butts and frolicking with the moo-sows," Tony said.

"Cute butts. Really," Loki said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Definitely," Tony said, pointing his spoon at Loki. "You want to set off tomorrow, Cute Butt?"

"I can't decide if that's a better or worse nickname than princess," Loki groaned. "Yes, I would like to go tomorrow."

They ate in silence for half a minute before Loki said "If you're going to call me that, then I'll call you by prominent body features too."

"Bring it on, Cute Butt," Tony grinned.

"Scruffy Beard. Muscly Arms. Crotch Bulge. Brown Eyes," Loki said. "It becomes asinine _fast."_

"You kidding me? I love it! What was that one in the middle?"

"Muscly Arms. You have huge arms," Loki said with a gesture at the offending body parts.

"No, no, it was Crotch Bulge. You should definitely start calling me that," Tony laughed.

"You wish," Loki said, bringing his bowl to his lips to drink the remaining stew juice. He pulled away quickly. "It's gotten a little cool."

A wave of his hand later, and steam was simmering off it again.

"Your control's gotten better," Tony said as Loki raised the bowl to his mouth again.

"I would hope so; I wouldn't want to set a building on fire again," Loki said bitterly.

"Forget about the king. And I mean that with all seriousness. Unless he actually finds you, then you should just forget everything about him," Tony said. "You're freer than a bluejay."

"That's all very easy to say for you," Loki said. "For all we know, there's a posse after us."

"If there was a posse after us, they would've caught us. You don't walk faster than the average posse, princess," Tony said. "Hell, we were off the main track. Your posse could've passed us and made it to Gaipan already."

"Yes, I walk slowly. You've made your point," Loki tutted. "No need to be bitchy, darling."

"There's always a need to be bitchy. Eat up, you need the sustenance. You're skinny as anything," Tony said, passing him more bread.

"I'm lean," Loki said. "It's considered a very respectable body shape among the upper classes."

"Only 'cause they're expected to look like they don't do any physical labour and don't overeat. Here, you'd better do both, or you'll waste away to nothing."

Loki just sighed and ate the bread.

Later that night, after they'd sat near the hearth for a few minutes idly chatting, Loki invited himself into Tony's bed. No wandering hands, beyond Tony wrapping his arm around his waist. ("Goodnight, Muscly Arms," Loki had remarked sarcastically.) But despite the fact they were on the move, Tony was genuinely happy with where he was, and so was Loki.

-O.O-

They didn't bother keeping track of how far and how long they'd walked; they knew they were on the right track (several queries had confirmed this) and they were just enjoying the walk.

Time wasn't the issue. They once spent a whole morning fishing with improvised poles next to a crystal clear lake, more for the soothing experience of sitting on the grass listening to the birds than anything else.

Most of Tony's explorations of the wider world had been trailing his father and the army around; there was something infinitely more peaceful about just strolling the roads with Jarvis and Loki.

He didn't bother to agonise over the nature of his relationship with Loki; they were close, that was it. Where it went, he honestly didn't mind.

The terrain became sparse for some time, but they managed to avoid the worst of the canyons and valleys that littered the land like gashes by staying near the lake.

Eventually the land deepened into forests of towering trees and sprightly green vegetation, the path becoming harder to follow as they went on.

Neither of them realised they were walking into Gaipan until they were standing on the rim of the river valley it was in. It wasn't a large town, not much larger than a logging settlement, but the river was deep and wide and boats were moving up and down it, docking at the port on the river's edge.

"A boat ride. Just like the monorail," Loki breathed in relief, picking a steep bath to the edge of the river.

Once they got there, however, they discovered a problem.

"How do we get across this thing?" Tony asked.

They were waved over by a ferryman lounging around on a little raft. Two pieces, and he'd take them across. Alternatively, he'd settle for Jarvis.

Tony gave him the two pieces.

Once they were in Gaipan, they inquired about boats. From this, they learned quickly that one or two ferry boats passed down the river in the direction of the Mo Ce Sea every day. Most of them didn't go all the way - the Fire Nation owned where the river filtered into the ocean - but any distance by boat was less distance walking, so Tony and Loki agreed to wait for the next one and stock up on food in the meantime.

They had a wait of just under an hour ahead, so they went for a walk in the forest, giving Loki yet another chance to marvel at the miracles of the outside world.

Forests were another novelty to him; he'd seen so many pictures of them and never been in one.

He even thought the poisonous plants and vicious animals were fascinating in their own way, which was why when he saw someone with a longbow aiming at a hog monkey, he drew one of his throwing knives and sliced the end of the arrow off neatly before Tony could stop him.

The archer fired anyway, shocked, and the arrow smacked the hog monkey in the ribs and caused it to run off screeching but mostly unharmed.

Angry, the archer snatched another arrow from his quiver and aimed it at Loki, who raised his hands in surprise.

"What the hell!?" the archer snapped. "Some people have to eat, you know!"

"You don't have to kill a poor little - _Tony what was that thing?"_ Loki whispered.

"Hog monkey," Tony replied amusedly.

"A poor little hog monkey to eat," Loki said.

"Well, I'm glad you can pull money out of your asscrack to buy food-" the archer snapped, lowering his bow and looming closer. "But not everyone has that luxury."

"Leave them alone," another, more feminine voice deadpanned. "They're just idiots. No harm, no foul."

The owner of said voice came into view from behind a tree.

While the archer was nothing to look at, darkly tanned skin, brown hair and blue eyes, his companion was startlingly stunning, with almost unnatural burgundy hair and a face that suggested murder was fun afternoon activity.

"Definitely a foul. He cost us a hog monkey," the archer protested.

"There are more hog monkeys in this forest than that one," the woman said lightly. "Even better, there's two somewhat wealthy idiots."

"I'm not an idiot," Loki said tetchily. Determined to not show a sign of weakness, he simply strutted both past of them to pick up his throwing knife and return it to the pouch on his belt.

"You getting on the next boat to Mo Ce?" the woman asked.

Loki was about to answer in the affirmative, but Tony shot him a look and said "What's it to you?"

"It does seem to me that you just cost us dinner," the woman said. "We don't have it easy."

"What's that got to do with the boat?" Tony said.

"The next one leaves in twenty minutes," the woman said. "We're catching it, but we don't mind sticking around. You give us food, we'll let you catch the boat."

"You think you can stop us?" Loki asked sharply.

The woman performed a sinuous hand gesture that resulted in water coming out of a gourd on her belt and swirling around her hands.

_Waterbender._

And the same time, her partner raised his bow again.

"We can certainly try. You might think you're fast, pretty boy," the woman said, directing that last jab at Loki, "But you just surprised us."

"Okay," Tony said, holding his hands in front of him soothingly. "We don't want drama. You can have our food."

Loki clenched his jaw irritably. Tony shot him another look.

-O.O-

Being shaken down by the two well-armed strangers was angering and inconvenient, but there were worse things.

Like finding out that Fire Nation ships were working their way up the river, burning and pillaging, and all ferry boats downstream had been cancelled for safety reasons.

"Great," Loki groaned. "More walking."

"Chin up. We'll get there," Tony said.

The two people from the forest walked over to them after hearing the news for themselves.

"Well. I'm Nat, and this is Clint. We hail from the Northern Water Tribe. And you're the ones with food and money, and we're the ones with the decent weaponry, so let's travel together," Nat said.

"I'm not sure we want to," Loki said evenly.

"It wasn't a question," Nat said dryly. "Let's get going."


	2. The day winding like dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The walk continues, and Loki gets irritated. Also, there are lots of Lees in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes I swear I only write this story for Tony and Loki's banter.

Walking from the ferry to Gaipan had been easy, because all they'd had to do was follow a well-worn path and the curvature of the lake. Walking downstream from Gaipan to the Mo Ce Sea wasn't any harder, because as long as the river was in sight they were walking the right way.

Tony and Loki learned quickly that attempts to sneak away from Clint and Nat don't work. After staying the night in Gaipan, he and Loki had tried to get up at the crack of dawn to leave without them, only to find Clint and Nat sitting at the one door of the inn, talking to each other airily.

There was no escape. After breakfast, they stocked up on more food and started on their journey.

Previously, they'd been chatting happily to each other, taking a luxurious walk instead of marching. But Clint and Nat didn't want to waste any time. By midday, Loki's feet were aching and he demanded a half hour lunch rest.

"Suit yourself, princess," Clint shrugged, rather rudely.

"I'm _tired,"_ Loki snapped. "And only Tony gets to call me princess."

That came out wrong, Loki knew, but he didn't really care.

He and Tony went and sat slightly off to the side as they ate.

"Perhaps if I challenge them to an _agni kai,"_ Loki muttered mutinously. "Neither of them are firebenders. I'd win easily."

"Burning shit isn't always the answer, Cute Butt," Tony shrugged.

"Says the blacksmith," Loki pointed out.

"I don't always burn," Tony grinned. "Sometimes I singe. There's a difference."

"Maybe when we get to a village, you could set up a smithee again," Loki said. "We could be true Fire Nation citizens."

"No offence, but that's not a banner I want to fly under."

"Just until I master my bending," Loki negotiated.

"Yeah, that's fine. But there's no chance I'd wanna stick around there. There's a war on; I want to get somewhere like Ba Sing Se or somewhere _far_ east when it really starts to heat up," Tony said.

"No fighting for Anthony?" Loki teased.

"I've done my bit. Honourable discharge," Tony said. "What about you? You could start the first ever Earth Kingdom Firebender Corp."

"Oh, I _long_ to be side-eyed by every Earth Kingdom official just in case I'm a spy. I'm tripping over myself. Really."

"Technically, you are Earth Kingdom. You were born here."

"Ah yes! Even better, I'll introduce myself as the exiled prince! That'll go down smoothly, no doubt."

"You're a sarcastic asshole, aren't you," Tony sighed.

"You love it," Loki smiled, leaning forward into Tony's personal space.

Tony's eyes flicked to Loki's mouth briefly before he noticeably pulled away. "You kidding me? I'm only keeping you around 'cause Jarvis likes you."

 _Don't fool around in front of Clint and Nat,_ Loki took it.

Neither of them knew how the Water Tribes felt about same-sex relationships. In the Earth Kingdom, no one could care less; times were tough and love conquered all, etcetra. The Fire Nation was known to have an odd yet tolerant relationship towards them, and the Air Nomads almost encouraged it.

But, well, they'd been the Air Nomads, and they encouraged anything fun so long as it didn't hurt anyone or anything. Loki often wished he'd had the chance to meet them.

However, the Water Tribes hadn't intermingled freely with the Earth Kingdom for a long time, not since before the war, and that was far longer than either Tony and Loki had been alive.

Which was a pity, because Loki _really_ wanted to kiss Tony.

After a short break, they set off walking again. Loki had hoped that the break would lessen the ache in his limbs, but it returned in full force rather quickly.

They didn't talk. They didn't even look at each other. It was rather unexciting.

Later that night, when they were preparing for dinner, Clint was gathering firewood, Tony was setting up his and Loki's bed rolls, Nat was peeling vegetables to boil, and Loki was setting the fire.

"Spark rocks, Tony," Loki requested.

Tony rummaged through his pack and threw them over.

Loki felt Nat watching him as he tried to light the fire. Just like Tony hadn't been able to, he couldn't get a proper spark out of the rocks. They were a little too rough - Tony's normal spark rocks were bigger and heavier and they'd opted to take these ones - and they weren't brushing together properly.

"Do you have a better set?" Loki asked Nat.

She shook her head in the negative.

Loki gritted his teeth. He wanted to blast the cursed thing with a jet of fire, but that wasn't exactly inconspicuous. To hide his actions, he shifted his shoulders to obscure what he was doing and discretely shot a spark from his hands, finally lighting the dry leaves and twigs.

Nat seemed none the wiser.

"Finally," Loki said theatrically, trying to banish his anxiety. He didn't know how skilled a bender Nat was, but Clint was a crack shot and she had a pot of water at her hands, so he didn't like his odds.

There was a harsh squeal from in the distance and Loki's head snapped around to see what it was, but he couldn't see anything.

A minute or two later, Clint came back with the wood bundled in one arm and a dead boar-q-pine over the other shoulder.

"Give me half an hour, and we can have meat with our dinner," Clint grinned, dumping the dead animal on the ground. There was an arrow protruding from one eye.

To Loki's mild distaste, he simply retrieved a bone knife and began butchering the animal right there.

Loki decided very quickly that he didn't like seeing where his dinner came from. He just shuffled away from the bloody scene to help Tony.

Nat seemed completely unconcerned. Cultural differences.

Jarvis himself fed quite happily on the offal.

When that was done, however, the smell of roasting meat was enough to draw Tony and Loki back over to the campfire. Clint had left the neatly intact skin of the boar-q-pine hanging over a couple of sticks to dry out, and mentioned in passing that he was planning to use parts of it to patch up some of his belongings.

Water Tribe folk were weird, by Loki's estimate.

Unlike Tony and Loki, Clint and Nat insisted on keeping a watch. They also made it rather clear that they didn't trust Tony or Loki to do the job.

Once it was dark and they were shrouded in darkness, Loki stretched a hand across to Tony's bed roll and searched out his hand, clutching it tightly. He felt Tony's lips brush his knuckles - he could tell that that was what it was, because Tony's beard prickled across his hand - and then they both tried to get some sleep.

They didn't expect Clint and Nat to try anything funny; they were more useful alive than dead.

Clint had left the excess meat hanging over the fire overnight, so come morning, it was tough and smokey, and made an excellent snack. Certainly he knew how to survive in amongst nature.

Unlike Loki, who looked at every plant suspiciously until Tony assured him it wasn't stinging or poisonous.

Tension built between the two groups as Clint and Nat refused to stop for lunch again, urging them onwards.

Their first impression had been that Clint was the argumentative one and Nat was the peaceable one. On the surface, that was true, but underneath, Clint didn't want a fight and Nat reacted badly to slights. Also, Nat was the more driven of the pair of them.

When, in mid-afternoon, Loki spied a swimming hole in the river, deep and safe, and asked for a swim, Clint was the first to make a disparaging comment about how weak Loki was.

All of these threats and insults had really been pushing Loki. Tony had heard about Loki's fiery temper back in Ba Sing Se; of the princes, he'd been notorious for being the sarcastic, sharp-tongued and easily angered one. Tony hadn't seen much of it himself, aside from the sarcasm, because Loki had almost always been happy in his presence.

But this was a step too far.

"Yes, perhaps I am weak," Loki hissed at Clint. "I've been living in the lap of luxury my entire life, unlike you Water Tribe _savages_ , and am undergoing quite an adjustment. I was rather enjoying the change, too, until you came along, so if you have an issue with me, then I'd advise you to go live on raw meat and roots in the forest without us."

As it turned out, Clint could accept that. He enjoyed needling; he wasn't actually looking for a fight. Nat was.

"Do not call us that again," she said coldly. "Especially not while you stand next to a river."

"Or what? You'll splash me, perchance?" Loki replied airily.

Tony winced and made a _cut it out_ gesture at Loki.

"Maybe I will," Nat said.

"Well, have at thee, because you're hardly the only bender in this group," Loki said, sliding his feet into an earthbending form. He was hoping she wouldn't call his bluff.

Tony shot a glance at Clint, who, as it turned out, was looking at him. They both shrugged. Clearly neither of them was looking for a fight.

"You're _not_ an earthbender," Nat said appraisingly. "You're the wrong build."

"That's just discriminatory," Loki said in distaste.

"In fact, I know exactly who you are," Nat continued.

Loki's eyes widened slightly.

"You're the prince the Earth Kingdom army was put on alert for when we passed them," Nat said. "I heard you talking yesterday."

That was the very last straw. From his tunic Loki pulled a throwing knife for each hand.

"Should we do something?" Tony asked Clint. Jarvis starting growling, a warning to Nat.

"Nah, you can't stop her when she gets pissed," he said simply.

"Don't spy on me," Loki said angrily.

"Don't hold out on me," Nat replied. She performed a sinuous motion that pulled a stream of water from the river.

"Why in the world would I tell _you_ that?" Loki said. "You're just a bloody savage hiding in a forest who attacked us and took our food!"

"Don't," Nat snarled, lashing out at Loki with a water whip. "Call me a savage."

Loki dodged nimbly, avoided another strike and lunged forward with a knife, easily blocked by a curtain of water. That was the problem with fighting a waterbender; they were all defence.

But Loki could already tell that Nat wasn't especially experienced. He'd read about waterbending; anyone with skill would have already organised themselves into a proper defensive form, like the octopus. He just needed to move quickly and what training she had would fall apart.

A series of quicksteps had Nat off-balance and him at her back; he slashed out with one of his knives and caught her across the back before she could react. It met mostly the thick clothes she was wearing, but he felt the tip hit flesh and _tear_.

Nat gave a cry of pain and rounded on him, her water turning into ice shards that soared at him. He slashed out, knocking them back with his blades, but when one drove into the back of his hands, his instincts took over. He dropped the blades and lashed out with a fireball that melted the ice easily.

"He's a firebender?" Clint said in surprise.

"You're a firebender?" Nat said, equally surprised.

"You fucked up, Lokes," Tony muttered.

Loki seized the opportunity to lash out at Nat with a fire whip that she dodged narrowly.

Unfortunately, if Nat was untrained, Loki was worse. He basically only knew how to blast fire.

Nat repelled Loki's harsh strikes with shields of water, advancing forward. Loki stood his ground until Nat brought up a surge of water from the river and he had to press his back against a tree.

Then Nat grinned and made a harsh wrenching gesture, and Loki knew he'd made the wrong move.

Water burst from the tree itself, binding Loki's wrists and ankles.

 _Plants are largely water, you ass,_ Loki reminded himself.

Nat advanced forward, ice blades hovering in midair.

Loki smiled innocently. "Just a friendly reminder. I can breathe fire."

That caused her to hesitate.

They stared each other down for a moment until Tony and Clint both saw fit to intervene.

"That's kind of enough," Tony said firmly. "We don't need to kill each other."

"He's Fire Nation," Nat said to Tony. "You're somehow okay with that?"

"Actually, I'm half-cast," Loki said, freeing himself. "My mother was from around these parts. I don't know where."

"He's my friend. I don't care who his parents were," Tony said definitively.

"So he's the prince, but he's adopted, and he's really a firebender," Clint summarised.

"Basically," Loki said.

"That must've been an awkward family dinner," Clint said, and all of a sudden the tension was broken.

"You're new to waterbending," Loki stated to Nat.

She shook her head. "I've been waterbending all my life. But where I come from, girls aren't allowed to learn how to fight. It's why we left; we're going to the Southern Water Tribe so I can find a master."

"I'm much the same. I need a teacher and I'll only find one to the west," Loki replied.

Tony was slightly confused at how they were suddenly buddy-buddy, but he just shrugged and accepted it.

"They were trying to kill each other a minute ago," Clint said in disbelief to Tony.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Tony replied to him. "We cool now?"

"So long as you stop complaining," Clint nodded.

"So long as you stop pushing us around," Tony agreed.

It was weird.

"You're not hurt?" Loki asked Nat.

"A flesh wound," Nat said dismissively.

That wasn't quite true; her jacket and undershirt had been slashed. But Clint the friendly seamstress had a boar-q-pine skin, some thread and a supply of bone needles.

"I really do need to rest now," Loki said truthfully, taking a seat and a breather.

Tony moved to his side. "You still getting overtired?"

Loki just nodded. Firebending tired him out way more than it should and they still didn't know why.

He was cured after a rest and a short swim to head off the fever that was already starting to rise.

Nat was a bender, so Loki asked her if she knew anything about it.

"How long have you been bending?" she said.

"Just over a month," Loki replied.

"Oh. You're just not used to it yet," Nat told him. "Little kids get overtired real quick at home."

That explained that, sort of. Only Loki wasn't a little kid.

The walk was more relaxed from there on. Nat and Loki talked about bending, mostly, while Clint and Tony didn't talk about anything. But it was more companionable than it had been earlier.

-O.O-

Poeticism aside, rivers were the veins and arteries of a country. This river was no different; it moved supplies and people all along its' length, and brought food and water to anyone living near.

This made it excellent for travelling along, because there were so many villages within seeing distance of the river that finding a bed for the night and new (but not freshly slaughtered) food was easy after the first night.

By extension, this was excellent too, because with the newfound semi-trust (or at least lack of suspicion) between the two parties, Tony and Loki could have time for themselves.

Part of this was spent complaining about Clint and Nat anyway. The other part was spent celebrating their privacy in the best way, Tony pinning Loki down on the bed as their lips and tongues clashed. Loki wasn't willing to go further than that, and Tony didn't mind, just happy in the moment.

The more time they spent together, the more they seemed to like each other, and that was great.

Unable to practice with large flames around town or indoors for obvious reasons, Loki was teaching himself tricks, throwing and controlling sparks and forming shapes out of them.

A smith and a firebender. It was almost meant to be.

-O.O-

A feature that most didn't realise about the Fire Nation's conquest was that there were no defined lines, no border patrols. Nothing stopped the four of them from walking into Fire Nation territory, because they were in low numbers and fairly quiet about it. It just wasn't that kind of war.

The main differences once they reached Fire Nation territory revolved around Fire Nation banners on buildings, unhappy people and burned things.

Unfortunately, with occupying forces, there wasn't a whole lot their group could do to help anyone. They bought extra food and gave it to whoever looked hungriest, and they stopped a few times to help with small harvests and whatnot, but they had to keep moving and not attract any attention.

In one town, they spent half a day getting re-outfitted in a less conspicuous fashion. This meant that Clint and Nat had to pack away their furs and skins and look a little more normal, meant that Tony looked exactly the same apart from a colour scheme change, and meant Loki finally didn't look out of place in his clothes. Only his green eyes made him stand out; the rest of him was all Fire Nation, down to his light build and black hair.

There was something ceremonial in how Loki tied his hair in a topknot for the first time in years. Tony completed this by sliding a little metal fire emblem into the knot.

"I'll make you your own one when I have the chance," Tony said. "Might put your name on it, or the Earth Kingdom symbol, or something. But for now, you're Lee Ko of the Fire Nation."

"Lee," Loki repeated. "How innovative."

His thoughts cast back to Li, the delicate little bibliophile from back in the palace, just for a moment. Then he tried to forget her, and everything else too.

With looking back no longer an option, he was looking forward. Hopefully to finding a firebending master and settling down somewhere to learn.

Tony did have a point, though. Lee was the most common name in the world. No one suspected a Lee.

"Makes your cheekbones look like I could cut myself on them," Tony commented, poking Loki in said cheekbone experimentally.

"And you," Loki said, rising to his feet, where Tony would have to reach up quite a bit to poke him again, "look exactly the same as always: covered in shit and reeking of smoke."

"I thinked 'covered' is a bit of an exaggeration," Tony grinned. "I have a healthy odour. Didn't anyone teach you about a manly musk?"

"I'm a prince," Loki teased. "We from the royal palace prefer to smell of lilies and the suchlike."

"Boring," Tony said. "The smell of the outdoors keeps you young."

"Regardless, I'm still going to bathe."

"Suit yourself, princess."

"The question is, how do you smell like smoke even though you haven't touched a forge for weeks?" Loki wondered.

"I think it's ingrained," Tony replied. "Toddler me spent a lot of time frolicking in ash piles and annoying Howard while he was working. Pretty sure it never washed out of everywhere."

Toddler Tony was a cute thought. Loki ended up asking for more stories of Tony's youth while they sat next to the small hearth in their room and toasted bread.

So much of Loki's young life had been spent in lessons, or in the libraries, or just generally doing as he was told around the palace. Tony's childhood seemed wild and strange to him, and he loved to hear stories about it.

Fortunately, Tony really did like to talk, so it worked out.

-O.O-

As they kept travelling, the world around them became organised and industrialised. They saw large machines for the first time on their journey and and walked through the ashes of what were once forests. It was an impressive scar on the land.

They were getting there, that much was obvious. The river was noticeably wider, too, fed by side-streams as they approached the ocean.

Finally, as night fell, they exited a stand of trees to find themselves on a high ridge overlooking an expanse of scrub, then a town, and to the side of it, the estuary of the river they'd been following.

Rather than pick their way through the scrub in the dark, they agreed as a group to spend one more night around a campfire.

Once they'd eaten, they sat within the hot glow talking with each other.

"I suppose tomorrow will be goodbye," Loki began.

"It seems that way," Nat said.

The two groups weren't the closest of friends, but there was a grudging trust and respect between them, and they'd been pretty good company.

"Good luck, then. I hope the South is everything you think it'll be," Tony said.

Clint didn't seem too worried. "The Water Tribes aren't like Earth Kingdom cities. They're a lot tougher. I'm not expecting trouble."

"Just because you're not expecting it, doesn't mean it won't happen," Loki pointed out.

Clint clearly became more focused right then, happy to talk about how great his people were. "See, the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom are both on solid land, both all spread out. The Water Tribes isn't just the city. It's everything at the poles. We live on ice and water and we control both. Fire Nation doesn't stand a chance."

"That's what the leaders seem to hope, anyway," Nat cut in, her tone cynical.

"If there's anything I've learned," Loki snorted. "It's that leaders say a lot of things to their subjects, and the percentage of honesty is often quite low."

"I don't like to think about that kind of stuff," Clint admitted. "That's Nat's job."

"Perhaps you should keep on your toes mentally," Loki said, sweetly acidic. "Rather than just physically."

"Shut up, fire princess."

"Says the man enjoying the fire I created."

"Yeah, and you enjoyed the food I shot. Not everyone's a bender."

Loki couldn't refute that, but he could insult Clint, and that was almost as good. "Your wit leaves much to be desired. I think I'll continue to spar tongues with Tony."

In both senses of the phrase, which Clint picked up on.

"Trust me, we can hear you sparring tongues. Kind of wish you'd keep it to yourselves," Clint rebutted.

"Nah, you're just jealous," Tony said. Evidently they had little to fear from Clint and Nat's opinion on their relationship.

They continued to chat idly, mostly about the shining city of Ba Sing Se, as Loki practiced his firebending, taking sparks from the fire and messing with them while Jarvis followed them with his eyes curiously. Nat had showed him a few waterbending forms, and as it turned out, they worked with fire too, though he had to take more care not to touch it.

It was odd, because Loki also had a neat repository of earthbending forms stored in his head - thank you, a million lessons given to him in hope he was a late bloomer on the earthbending front - and some of them worked nicely with fire too. Even after he learned firebending properly, he was certain he wanted to try blending things.

-O.O-

The next day saw them heading for the town. It was larger than it had seemed from a distance; it hosted a clearly important port and was developed enough to have stone streets and buildings. A quick ask around revealed that the town was called Xīnjū and they had a firebending academy with an 'honourable reputation'.

Tony and Loki had been expecting to wander down the coast for some time before coming to such an ideal town.

This meant that their first priority was the port. There were no ships headed directly for the Southern Water Tribe - which was good, because that would mean that the Fire Nation was shifting closer - but there was a luxury ship headed for Whaletail Island, and that was as close as they could get. They took it.

There was a brief goodbye, but nothing overly sentimental. Despite that, both Tony and Loki felt like they'd probably see them again sometime, somehow.

Firstly, they found somewhere to stay. For now, it was an inn, but enquires informed them that the old town blacksmith was currently sick, and would be happy to take on an apprentice.

"Apprentice," Tony snorted. "I've forgotten more than than guy has ever known, trust me."

By that evening, they'd sorted out everything apart from Loki's tutelage.

Finding the academy wasn't hard; it was a big stone building with an elegant frontage sporting a huge Fire Nation banner, and the inside of the building was a large open courtyard for practice.

The last lesson had finished for the day as the sun dipped below the trees in the distance, and so the academy was mostly quiet. They found the person who looked like the master in his office writing.

"Hello?" Loki said around the door.

The master didn't look up. "Can I help you?"

"I'd rather like to inquire about firebending tutoring," Loki said. Tony hung back; it was Loki's moment.

"Tell me why I should teach you. You are not young, and you are stubborn; I can tell. Not an easy teach." Still the instructor kept writing.

"Because I want to learn," Loki said, irritated at the disrespect.

The master looked up at that. "That is as good a reason as any."

He got to his feet and looked Loki over briefly, before walking out to the courtyard, Loki following behind him.

"You must have travelled some distance for you to be new to this academy," the instructor said. "There are no cities this large for a long distance."

"I'm from a colony further inland, without a teacher," Loki lied smoothly. "I only learned a was a firebender a short time ago. I was originally thought to not be a bender at all."

"Green eyes," the master pointed out. "You're half-cast."

"I am," Loki acknowledged.

"I am Master Chan," the instructor told him. "And you are?"

"Lee Ko," Loki said firmly.

"Hm. Another Lee," Chan said. "I do wish people would become more inventive. But then, you are from the colonies."

"So are you," Loki rebutted bluntly.

"Do not talk back to me," Chan said sharply.

Loki was beginning to think that this wasn't what he'd hoped for. There wasn't going to be push-and-pull banter, only learning.

Chan walked around him, inspecting him. "Show me your flame."

A simple move. Loki moved in two steps into a good stance and shot a jet of fire into the sky. It was pretty good, in his opinion.

Chan showed no expression. "You have started learning too late. You will need remedial lessons. Return here at sunrise tomorrow."

And just like that, he was dismissed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to do a third part to this - three parts of three chapters each, very tidy - so you almost certainly haven't seen the last of Clint and Nat.
> 
> (For the record, I'm also aware that there is a real town in Taiwan called Xīnjū. This is of no relation)


	3. Come with me, go places

Loki was genuinely excited to start learning firebending. He wanted to get good at it. In all honesty, he wanted to be the best, learn the tricks of the trade. When he was little, he'd watched his brothers bending with an envious eye, and now he had the chance too.

On the walk back from the firebending academy, Loki was talking excitedly about firebending, accompanied by jets of sparks chasing his hand movements. As always, Tony just enjoyed seeing him happy.

Later, over dinner, it was Tony's turn, and he filled Loki's ears with what he'd seen in the forge, how he'd missed the smell and sight of a smithee. It seemed as though their time in Xīnjū would be a pleasant one.

The innkeeper said that business was quiet and he'd be happy to have a couple of long-term lodgers, at least until the tourist season. Which settled their accommodation.

That night, instead of going to bed quietly, Tony took Loki out for a show down at the theatre. It was their first proper date, or something like it, and Loki was more knowledgeable about it than Tony was, pointing out the stylistic features and predicting the ending and whatnot.

After that, Loki was completely exhausted and flopped down on the bed without undressing, asleep before Tony had taken his shoes off. Tony just grinned at how excellently life was going, then curled up next to him.

-O.O-

One reason the town blacksmith had been so happy to have Tony was that he could start working immediately. In addition to this, Loki was meeting Chan at sunrise. They both got up far too early, mumbled goodbyes at each other, and went their separate ways.

Tony arrived at the forge with his tools and fell into old patterns with ease, lighting the forge, arranging his tools, and clearing clutter.

The old smith arrived. The name was no misnomer; he really was old, but muscled and toughened from a lifetime of Tony's work. He also had a wracking cough and was pale and slimy-looking owing to his flu.

They ascertained quickly that Tony knew his stuff and that an apprenticeship was totally unnecessary. After telling him a bit about what he was working on and how he was going about it, the old smith just flopped himself down on a chair and watched.

Tony loved this. He got to work on a Dao sword, just like his own, shaping and melting and crafting.

-O.O-

Loki walked hesitantly through the gates of the academy, looking about. It was fairly deserted. He headed for the same place he had found Chan yesterday and poked his head around the door, only to find the office empty.

"Lee," a voice called from behind him. He whirled around to find Chan standing in the middle of the courtyard where he hadn't been a second ago.

Loki clasped his hands together and bowed. "Master Chan," he said.

"Come here," Chan said, not one to waste time.

Loki did as he was told, standing in front of his new _sifu_ expectantly.

"Undress."

"Pardon?" Loki blurted.

"Remove your coat and shoes," Chan clarified.

"That's a little different to going ass-naked in the cold," Loki snapped.

"Do not talk back to me," Chan snapped back again.

Loki took a deep breath, calmed himself, and did as he was told.

"Before you can tame fire, you must create it untamed," Chan told him. "Produce a flame. The greatest one you can."

 _Great,_ thought Loki. His weak point was, in fact, generating large quantities of fire. It was usually jets of fire or small blasts, but he hadn't made huge fireballs since he'd saved Tony back in Be Sing Se. It didn't come naturally to him.

He took several deep breaths. Slid his feet into a strong stance. Stalled some more.

_You're here to get taught. Let him teach you._

So he thrust a palm out and summoned as much fire as he could. It started as a little blue flame, then lightened into orange and flared out into a proper blast. It was his best yet, but still not fantastic.

Then he looked at Chan expectantly.

Chan just stared at him for a while, looking him over. "What are you angry about, Lee?" he said finally.

Loki found this an odd question. "Some things, I suppose. My apologies if I'm being overemotional."

"Use it, Lee. You have no passion."

Loki was about to respond waspishly _you wouldn't think I had no passion if you'd seen me with Tony a few nights ago._ But he didn't. Chan hated it when he talked back.

Instead he just asked "How?"

"Let it rise in you. Then let it all out."

At that point in time, Loki was not feeling particularly angry. Curious, yes, and mildly cautious, certainly, but angry? No.

He didn't actually say this, but his facial expression must've been telling, because Chan said "Tell me what angers you."

"My father," Loki blurted before he could stop himself. "The fact that I can't firebend. That would be about it."

"Think about your father. Everything he did, and what he didn't do. Then bend," Chan said.

When he really thought about it, Loki could get angry about Odin. Odin was a manipulative ass; Loki didn't even really consider him as a father even though he considered Frigga to be his mother.

He'd decided to take Loki in for his own selfish reasons. As leverage. He'd then ignored Loki. Ignored him more when he wasn't a bender. Rewarded Thor's presence at council meetings with gifts and affection and expected that of Loki as a bare minimum.

As Loki thought about it, he dug his nails into the palms of his hands. It hurt. And he was sufficiently angry.

So he whirled and sent out another blast, bigger and hotter, chasing itself into the sky. It helped.

"Good," Chan said shortly. "Give me another ten of those. Then we can begin. Later today you will join my first lesson, a class of beginners like yourself. And you will not talk back to me."

-O.O-

Loki liked firebending. Creating flames felt like creating life, a wild burst of freedom that wisped away in an instant.

But he didn't like learning firebending. At least not with Chan.

Their private morning lesson consisted of just producing and controlling fire. His lessons with the kids - between seven and nine years old, embarrassingly enough - consisted of learning forms. Repetition, repetition, repetition. And they were expected to produce fire from anger, just like earlier, so he met some decidedly toxic children.

It was unpleasant. When Loki finally left, knowing he'd have to repeat it all the next day, he was miserable.

Tony, of course, was still working, so Loki just curled up on their bed and fell asleep, exhausted from bending so much.

Much later, Tony nudged him awake, back to reeking of smoke and having his face smeared with ash and grease.

"Hey, Cute Butt," Tony said. "How'd you go?"

Unusually for himself, Loki didn't want to complain. Tony had come all the way here for him. He couldn't tell him now that he hated it.

"Okay," Loki said tentatively. "I believe we've gotten over my block about producing large amounts of fire."

"Good. Great!" Tony said. "Getting back to the forge was like coming home. I was working on a Dao sword at first, but then-"

Loki closed his eyes, let his troubles slip from his mind, and just listened to his partner talk.

-O.O

Escaping his troubles wasn't that easy, because he had to do the same thing the next morning.

Pushing himself to get angry worked. It produced a flame like nothing else, not since he'd tried to save Tony. And being able to actually produce fire was brilliant, but the price that it came at was emotionally taxing and Loki wasn't sure he could keep it up. Loki's anger was sometimes all-consuming.

The next day, when he came home from the academy, Tony was taking a lunch break so they could spend time together. But Loki was still angry from the day's lessons, and he snapped at Tony before going to sleep.

When he woke up, Tony had gone back to work and Loki just felt guilty.

Regardless, he dragged himself out of bed the next morning and went to the lesson. He was getting better, learning more control, applying himself to learning his forms. A month of this and he'd be as good as anyone.

Over the next week, Loki found himself getting better. Getting tired less often as - in the words of Chan - his chi paths became accustomed to bending after so long being unused. He also found himself seeing Tony less and less, and arguing with him when they did meet.

And in the same week, Tony found Loki to be getting irritable and easily upset all the time. He said his lessons were going well at the same time as he was frustrated and clearly unhappy. Quite frankly, Tony couldn't be bothered arguing with Loki, so he just kept forging and enjoyed the stink of burning coal and melting metal. The good thing was, the Fire Nation encouraged mechanical invention and enginework, so Tony could start working on his ideas.

Loki had one day off a week, so when this day rolled around, Tony was determined to do something relaxing with him. However, when he woke up on that day, he found Loki in the courtyard of the inn, practicing forms. To Tony's surprise, Loki's teeth were bared and there was a scowl on his face even as he twisted with all the grace in the world.

"Loki?" Tony called.

Not even bothering to look his way, Loki snapped "What?"

Tony remained silent until Loki stopped and looked at him expectantly.

"Loki, come here," Tony said. Loki didn't move. "Please."

Still looking rather annoyed, Loki did come closer.

"Sit," Tony said. Loki took a seat on a stool in the yard. "What's going on with you, babe?"

"Nothing," Loki said, moving to stand again.

"Nope, none of that," Tony said, sitting on Loki's lap to hold him still. "You've been pissy all week. I thought you liked firebending."

"I do," Loki insisted, though without much conviction. "I'm sorry for being snappish."

"No point in going to the lessons if they upset you, Cute Butt," Tony reminded him. "You're making Jarvis sad. He thinks his parents are arguing."

On cue, Jarvis's head drooped sadly.

"I'm learning how to firebend, and that's good," Loki said. "It's just harder than I thought."

"Well, that's okay. I'm sure you'll get better. You're practically a genius."

"Not in that way," Loki said. And then he told Tony, in clear detail, how Chan had been teaching him to produce fire from anger, and how stressful it was.

"That's fucked up," Tony told him after.

"That's how they teach firebending," Loki said, feeling a little more surefooted after Tony's confirmation that something was wrong.

"Don't do any more of that," Tony insisted angrily. "That won't help you bend properly. It just makes fire. Bending's about expression, not anger. We're gonna find you a better teacher. Somewhere else."

"Your-"

"Not about me. We did this for you," Tony said. "Trust me, when you can bend, then I'll start bitching about wanting to work again. But for now, you need a proper sifu."

Loki seemed to wilt a bit. "I suppose so."

"Trust me. I'm always right," Tony said, kissing Loki on the cheek. "Get your stuff together."

As much as Loki appreciated the support, he didn't know if he liked Tony making his decisions for him, and he also didn't know if he was happy just leaving without giving Chan a piece of his mind. He knew how he could solve both issues; he could take charge of himself, and not make Tony feel like bossing him around was the only way to go.

With that in mind, Loki spun Tony a lie about leaving some of his working clothes at the academy, and then headed to the school.

-O.O-

"Chan," Loki said from the doorway of the master's office.

Chan ignored him, waiting for him to address him by his status.

So Loki ignored him right back again until Chan finally had to yield and look at him.

"What do you want, Lee?" Chan said.

"Actually, my name is not Lee Ko," Loki said. "It's Loki. Prince Loki of Ba Sing Se. And were you my tutor at home, I would have you unemployed."

That actually caught Chan's attention; as such, he raised a single eyebrow. "The runaway firebender," he stated blandly.

"If that's what they're calling me, then that is my name," Loki said.

"And your name is of no interest to me," Chan said.

 _What an ass,_ Loki thought. Out loud he said "I'm leaving."

"Good. You lack dedication. There is no passion in you."

"I have plenty of _dedication,_ " Loki growled. "Plenty of fire in my soul. It's you who's at fault here."

"And how is that?" Chan said coldly.

"I believe that your methods don't teach correct firebending," Loki said. "Firebending isn't about anger. That's not what fire is. Fire is chaos, and chaos is creation."

"You are hardly a philosopher, _Prince_ Loki," Chan sneered at the title, as though being a prince was something to be ashamed of. "You know so little of the art of fire that without your father issues you would be able to create none at all."

That was cruel. "You're wrong," Loki said firmly. "Passion is what I need, and I have plenty. I have Tony, and I love him very much, and with that I care little for my petty issues with the Earth King. Those things seem small at this distance."

Chan's lip curled in derisive amusement. "You believe you are superior to me through the power of love." he snorted, leading them out into the courtyard. "Prove it. If you can defeat me in combat, then perhaps I might consider it."

Loki's jaw tightened. He had backed himself into a corner, wherein he had to win this fight or lose any semblance of dignity or intelligence he'd once had.

He could do it. He was talented, pissed off, and had half a dozen throwing knives hidden on his person, though using the latter was probably cheating.

First, he slid into a tidy stance, calmed himself so as not to telegraph his movements, then lashed out with a low kick which sent a lash of fire towards Chan. The master dispelled it easily, but that had just been a bluff leading into a downwards slash with a fire whip followed by an curved fireball that nearly, _nearly_ caught Chan off-balance.

Chan hadn't struck yet, and already Loki was regretting this decision. A moment of squaring off later, and Chan sent a searing palm thrust at Loki.

Loki slid into old habits to protect himself, no longer using the firebending forms he'd learned in the last week. Instead, he performed a fluid motion where he redirected the flame, swirling it around himself in a low-level waterbending move, then jabbed forward. Chan dispelled the fire like it was nothing.

Then Loki got frustrated, knowing he was going to lose, sending blast after flaming blast at Chan, until his feet slid into a familiar earthbending form and he yanked his hands upwards, creating a static fireball, then _shoved_ forward with all of the spiritual strength in his body.

Something went wrong. The fireball collapsed on itself like a black hole, and then exploded, throwing Chan back several metres and knocking him out. The blast was directional, and Loki was unaffected.

Loki just stood there for half a minute looking at the scorched ground and unconscious master. Then he started to worry if anyone had seen him do that. But the academy seemed to be empty.

He was on his way out of the gate when he suddenly had an idea. Then he turned about face, went to Chan's office, and investigated his scrolls. Most of them were about firebending forms and techniques.

Loki picked the ones that looked the most informative, stuffed them in his coat, and left.

-O.O-

"Let's go. And quickly," Loki said, bursting into their room in the inn and beginning to stuff his belongings in his backpack.

"Any particular reason, or are you just sick of this place?" Tony said warily.

Loki pulled the scrolls out of his coat and threw them over to Tony, who examined them.

"You nicked these?" Tony said. "Is Chan after us?"

"Not quite," Loki said. "And when Chan wakes up, yes, he will be after us."

"Wakes up?" Tony pondered. "You fought him, didn't you? You won?"

Loki hoped that Tony wouldn't be angry. That would be annoying. But he did nod.

"That's awesome," Tony grinned. "He seemed like a stuck-up ass to me. He'd better regret pissing you off now."

Which was exactly why Loki had told Chan that he loved Tony. Or something like that, anyway. "I'm not entirely certain how I did it," he told Tony, then recounted how it had happened.

"You said you were doing an earthbending move," Tony said, mostly to himself. "Maybe when you combine techniques..."

Then he was away in a world of figuring out how things worked.

Loki was curious too, how forms translated from one medium to another. He really wanted to try other earthbending techniques with fire.

"Tony," Loki said.

"Mm?" Tony grunted, deep in thought.

"Let's go," Loki said, holding up his full pack.

Tony led the way from the room and out into the open air again. "Where do you think we're going?"

"Just places," Loki said. "I have those scrolls; I don't need a teacher. You have a map. So let's go places."

"If you're sure, then I'm sure," Tony said. "Fire Nation's no fun anyway."

Loki threaded his fingers through Tony's, feeling much better than he had that morning. Standing up for himself felt excellent.

They wandered up the main street, leaving town and heading north, hopefully destined for somewhere or the other.

"I do apologise for being so unpleasant recently," Loki said.

"Nah. I should've asked what was wrong. No harm, no foul, princess," Tony replied.

Once they'd made it out of town and a little way into the forest, they sat down on an old log and watched Jarvis wallow in a little muddy patch.

Loki wanted to just keep walking. Everywhere, all over the world, until he'd seen everything and done everything. And he wanted to do that with Tony.

He leaned into his companion's side, and Tony slid an arm around him.

"I love you," Loki murmured, sort of thinking out loud.

"Jarvis, stop that," Tony said when Jarvis started chasing birds unsuccessfully. Then he seemed to register what Loki had said. "I love you too, Loki. It's weird. Kind of thought you were an ass when I met you in the forge, but you're awesome."

"Don't worry, I thought you were an ass too," Loki replied dryly. "I'm not particularly thinking differently right now."

"Ouch, burned. You watch yourself."

Loki laughed at that, a proper honest laugh.

They had all the time in the world to sit on the log and snipe at each other affectionately, and all the world to occupy their time.

_Stay with me, go places_   
_Once more for the ages_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end of this part! It's a fairly final ending, so you can jump ship now if you like, but I was intending there to be a final part set about a decade in the future that deals with politics and the war more than the previous two.
> 
> Whichever. Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Comments? Thoughts, perhaps?


End file.
